


A Date

by andlucyy



Category: The Outsiders - All Media Types, The Outsiders - S. E. Hinton
Genre: Established Relationship, Gay, How Do I Tag, M/M, purly is a background ship, two bit centric
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-13
Updated: 2021-03-13
Packaged: 2021-03-21 12:28:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30021795
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/andlucyy/pseuds/andlucyy
Summary: “That’s cute, you two greasers in love and all,” Curly’s voice, made high-pitched to mock what Steve had said to him just now, said as he passed them.“I’m sorry, did our canoodling make you uncomfortable?” Steve retorted, only turning away from Two briefly before placing a kiss on his lips, as he had done so himself previously, but hung onto it for a couple sweet seconds longer. He smiled.
Relationships: Ponyboy Curtis/Curly Shepard, Two-Bit Mathews/Steve Randle
Comments: 2
Kudos: 12





	A Date

**Author's Note:**

> hey gang!! special mention to nini (@therealsehinton on tumblr and here) and cas (@chaotically-cas on tumblr and @chaotically_cas on here) for their hcs and discussions about Steve-Bit and all of that I love you both so so much <3 <3
> 
> idk what else to say tbh but I know there is something I want to so lol anyway follow me on tumblr (@himboxsokka) so we can chat about this stuff!!! i love talking to people :P
> 
> TW:   
> \- implied/referenced alcohol

Two-Bit watched as Steve hovered over Ponyboy and Curly’s heads and made kissing noises, completely taking the piss out of them tentatively holding hands while walking down the street towards the drive-in theatre. 

“That’s cute, you two greasers in love and all,” he cooed mockingly, sandwiching himself between them and wrapping his arms around their shoulders, “maybe I should check if they’ve got any vacancy down at the church, then you can get properly mushy in public.” 

Pony was redder than Two had ever seen him, including that time that Steve had talked at length about his theme for english in front of the whole gang, and reckoned Curly was about ready to sock Steve in the jaw. 

“You’re acting like you and Mathews ain’t here for exactly the same reason Pony and I am,” Curly shot back, shrugging off Steve’s arm and turning to face him, “and don’t think no one sees you when you two… you fuckin’... canoodle with each other all around everyone.” 

Even Pony could barely hold back his laughter. 

“Yeah, well at least we own it, don’t we, Two?” Steve looked back at Two-Bit. 

A smile grew on his face as he skipped up to Steve and kissed him smack on the lips, right there, partly to prove a point and partly just because he wanted to. There was a sparkly feeling inside his chest as he drew back and saw Steve’s smiling face. “Yes, we do.” 

The pair laughed as Pony and Curly made retching noises and sped a few meters ahead of them. 

“Why did we agree to come again?” Steve asked softly. 

“Cause Darry wants us to supervise the kid and blah blah blah,” Two straightened his posture, “all that kind of responsible stuff.” 

Steve raised an eyebrow at him. 

“Also, Darry bribed me,” he added, taking a five dollar bill out of his pocket and presenting it to Steve, who whistled. 

“Man, maybe the kid should get out of the house more often. Speaking of,” he looked ahead at Pony and Curly and called to them, “are we getting our own tickets or what?” 

Pony merely shrugged at him before resuming his conversation with Curly, indicating that they wouldn't be purchasing any tickets at all. 

“Sneaking in like a bunch of juvenile delinquents,” Two sighed and shook his head in false disappointment. 

“I would hardly consider you juvenile.” 

Two playfully elbowed Steve for his comment. “I’m not that old.”

“Compared to them you are.” He jerked his head in Pony and Curly’s direction. “Don’t worry, I’m sure the cops will feel much better about you once they know you’re an eighteen year old junior.”

“Oh, shut up.”

The group approached the chain fence that closed off the drive-in from the outside. 

“Great, I dressed up for this and everything, and now I’m getting my pants dirty,” Steve remarked. 

Two scoffed. “You’ve got more grease on that outfit than there is left on the car you were working on just now, there’s hardly a clean inch of fabric on your body.” 

“I call it car-chic but not everyone can have good taste, I guess.” 

“At least I don’t look homeless.” 

“At least I wear more than the same two outfits on rotation.” 

“Pipe down, will you two? Don’t want anyone to catch us,” Pony hissed at them as they scaled the fence for the small opening they always snuck through. 

Two and Steve shared a glance and tried to muffle their laughter best they could as they clambered through the hole. 

“Curly and I are gonna get cokes, so you guys go look for seats ok?” 

“Yes, boss.” Steve saluted Pony as he walked away. 

He intertwined his fingers loosely with Two’s as they weaved through the thinning crowd towards the stands and Two-Bit smiled softly. The sparkly feeling returned and spread through his body, concentrating right where his skin met Steve’s. Occasionally, he glanced sideways and swore his heart stopped at the sight of him. He admired Steve endlessly -- the way he grabbed his hand even though he was just making fun of Pony and Curly for doing the same thing; the way his eyes studied the area, unafraid of seeing how people would look at him; the way he was so fearless of feeling anything. Two-Bit swore that sometimes Steve must’ve felt things so violently that it hurt. It sure seemed like it did, when he got so emotional that hot tears he couldn’t stop spilled onto his cheeks, or when he got into fights as a result of it and woke up the next day with a black eye and swollen lip. 

Sometimes, Two thought he might give anything to feel something truly real and submerge himself in it, but whenever he got to that same precipice he needed to leap off of in order to, he backed away and muted it all with alcohol. There were just some things that weren’t worth feeling. Who knows where the fuck that could lead him. 

That was partially the reason why he was so surprised with what he had going on with Steve -- going from friends to… whatever it was, almost coincidentally -- and actually, genuinely loving it. There was no fear when he thought of Steve. It was all high and floating in the clouds and heart flutters and laughing until their ribs hurt and feeling like nothing in the world mattered at all. That was what Two-Bit wanted all the time, and the only other thing that could bring him anywhere close to that was alcohol. 

He knew there was something inherently fucked up about him comparing his relationship with Steve to alcohol, but it was the truth, as much as he hated to admit it; he’d learnt in eighteen years that the truth isn’t always what people wanted it to be. Being with Steve made him want to quit, though, to get better because he knew it would be more sustainable for the both of them. But it was hard. 

Two-Bit felt the tip of Steve’s nose brush against his cheek. “Sit next to me?” 

He turned his head and pressed his lips against it. “Of course.” 

“That’s cute, you two greasers in love and all,” Curly’s voice, made high-pitched to mock what Steve had said to him just now, said as he passed them. 

“I’m sorry, did our canoodling make you uncomfortable?” Steve retorted, only turning away from Two briefly before placing a kiss on his lips, as he had done so himself previously, but hung onto it for a couple sweet seconds longer. He smiled. 

The four finally sat themselves down near the edge of an empty row and the movie began. 

Two had no idea what was going on in the plot by the time they were five minutes in, so he took the opportunity to think and just watch people, but mainly Steve. He loved the way Steve looked, the way his face was structured, the way a couple locks of his hair were always out of place, the way his lip curved (and additionally, the way they kissed him). If nothing else, he’d let himself get lost in Steve’s features, like the way Pony got lost in sunsets or poetry or paintings. Two reckoned that Steve would’ve been the muse of some queer artist in the renaissance. He was the type worthy of trying to capture. Shit, if Two could draw, he wouldn’t have tried capturing anything else. 

“Wanna get outta here?” 

Two-Bit nodded. He never really was one for movies, the long drawn out plots and attempts to recreate tender moments on screen: he’d much rather just experience it all in real life. Additionally, his time with Steve was always best when he felt he could be himself (i.e. when no one else was there), so their dates -- or whatever people wanted to call them -- were usually consistent of them sneaking away to some lonely carpark or something of the sort. Two certainly didn’t mind it. 

“You two have fun,” he said to Pony and Curly, probably a little too loudly as numerous people shot him a dirty look, to which he returned with unapologetic grins. 

“And if Darry asks, we were here with you the whole time,” Steve concluded as they walked away. “Don’t wanna miss out on any of that sweet cash if Superman finds out that we’ve been bailing on the kids,” he added once they were out of Pony and Curly’s earshot. 

“Well good thing he won’t find out, cause we never left their side all night.” 

Steve nodded. “So, where to now?” 

Two bit his bottom lip as he thought. “We could go to mine? My mom’s workin’ the late shift tonight and the sister’s staying over at a friend’s. We’d have the house to ourselves.” 

“Trying to get me alone again? I expected at least a whole date before you took another go at it,” Steve joked.

“Well, is it working?”

Steve grinned and looked ahead. “Sure is.” 

Two smiled at the affirmation and felt more confident taking Steve’s hand and speeding up his pace, faster and faster until they were sprinting through the dark, empty neighbourhood. There was something liberating about it all, running hand-in-hand with the person he loved, and yes, he loved Steve. He loved him with his whole being, deeper than his skin, possibly right to the core of his bones. He loved Steve more than they would both would ever know, and it was very possibly the only thing he’d ever feel like this, because he hadn’t any time to ponder at the edge of the cliff; before he even knew what it was, he’d already been thrown off the edge.

Two-Bit felt there was nothing in the universe that could hold them back, and maybe, truly, nothing could as Steve, breathless and flushed, stared into his eyes, like he was looking at all he wanted, and slowly pulled him in under the dim, yellow light of his porch.


End file.
